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Monday, April 18, 2011

Huge Yet Inexpensive Art

A while back I posted here about our living room revamp. I have had a few questions about the art behind the sofa so let me take this opportunity to turn that into a blog post! Otherwise today I might be posting about how to get rid of the "tee tee" smell in the bathroom that seems to be ever present when you have preschool aged kids. Or how to keep your lab from shedding, or how about how to load the dishwasher with out little 16 mnth old people grabbing for the knives or climbing onto the dishwasher door. Those posts would not be informative at all...Just a multitude of questions from me really. So let's move on to a more lighthearted subject.

Big /Huge Inexpensive Wall Art

O.k. Before I go any further...forgive the overzealous use of watermarking here...Not sure what happened but don't have time to fix it at the moment...Mommyhood is calling;)

I know lots of people in blog land and elsewhere struggle with how to fill this massive space of nothing behind the sofa. You can spend a pretty penny decorating this space if not careful. Here is what we came up with that suited our thrifty budget and provided something a little different that suited us a bit more.

We purchased 3 of the precut 2 x 4 sheets of wood that you can find at home depot, lowes, etc..

I believe they were about $10 a piece. This pic is no good but I was trying to show the dimensions and it looks like it is 1/2 inch thick.

We stained it with some wood stain we had on hand. We then planned out the design. I knew the look I wanted so we just used cans to draw some perfect circles and plotted out a good flow between the two panels and drew it all on with a pencil.

Then came the messy and time consuming part of using the dremel to carve out the design. This really was time consuming and the hubby just did a little bit at a time after work. This is not our dremel layed out all nicely but I think he used the bit that is the 4th in from the right.

Here are a few close ups of the detail.

and a side view..

And the finished project!

We attached the little alligator teeth looking picture hangers on the back and used the ol' stand back and see method to get them all lined up. We actually attempted to sell these on etsy but due to the time to carve and the cost to ship it was a hard sell so I guess we will just keep them for ourselves!

I have learned to love the precut wood section at home improvement stores. There are endless opportunities for wall art without having to break out the saw! Have you done anything similar to this?

This is amazing! And the price tag is perfect! What a wonderful way to fill the space.. and what a conversation piece! Hope you will share with my Pink Hippo Party @ http://pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/2011/04/pink-hippo-party-25.html

This is beautiful! All the time you put into this was well worth it. I think this would also be beautiful as canvas paintings. (Since I don't own a dremel I'm thinking of ways to modify it for me, b/c it's perfect for my decor!)

I am having a giveaway on my blog. $40 store credit to get any vinyl decal from Urban Walls.Just leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite design to win.http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/04/40-store-credit-from-urban-walls-to-get.html

That is way beyond cool! I'm super impressed by this but have to tell you that I also would have loved a post about keeping a toddler out of the dishwasher too! LOL!Thanks so much for sharing this with us at Inspiration Friday~Vanessa

Jess - I love DIY art work and this is no exception - Fantastic job! Thanks so much for linking to the Sunday Showcase - I greatly appreciate it. I have featured this today! Hope you have a fabulous week ~ Stephanie Lynn